Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Cryptococcosis primary prevention
Introduction
Overview
Overview
It is recommended that patients with CD4 counts ≤ 100 cells/μl should have routine cryptococcal antigen screenings and patients with a positive result should be offered preemptive anti-fungal therapy.
Primary Prevention
Primary Prevention
- Take the lowest doses of corticosteroid medications possible.
- Practice safe sex to reduce the risk of getting HIV and other infections associated with a weakened immune system.
- Cryptococcal meningitis commonly affects patients with a CD4 count of ≤ 100 cells/μl. It is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in HIV positive individuals. It is recommended that patients with CD4 counts ≤ 100 cells/μl should have routine cryptococcal antigen screenings. Patients with a positive result should be offered preemptive anti-fungal therapy.[1][2]
- One strategy to prevent cryptococcal meningitis deaths is to treat all HIV/AIDS patients with a CD4 <100 with low-dose fluconazole 200 mg daily. This has shown to decrease the number of cryptococcal infections, but has not consistently decreased rates of death from cryptococcal disease.[3]
References
References
- ↑ Cassim N, Schnippel K, Coetzee LM, Glencross DK (2017). “Establishing a cost-per-result of laboratory-based, reflex Cryptococcal antigenaemia screening (CrAg) in HIV+ patients with CD4 counts less than 100 cells/μl using a Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) at a typical busy CD4 laboratory in South Africa”. PLoS One. 12 (2): e0171675. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171675. PMID 28166254.
- ↑ Greene G, Sriruttan C, Le T, Chiller T, Govender NP (2017). “Looking for fungi in all the right places: screening for cryptococcal disease and other AIDS-related mycoses among patients with advanced HIV disease”. Curr Opin HIV AIDS. 12 (2): 139–147. doi:10.1097/COH.0000000000000347. PMID 28134711.
- ↑ “www.cdc.gov” (PDF).
Editor-In-Chief:
C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aravind Kuchkuntla, M.B.B.S[2]